Melmarett...Yes, Ros is the type of friend that doesn't take his secrets lightly. As for Nejaa, he'll be fine…Thanks for reading!!

Chapter 8
44 BBY

Este Neighborhood, Coronet

Nejaa was restless, though he tried to keep his pacing down to a minimum. He knew something had to be done, or someone was going to be killed. Ros shot him a glance and made his way over to where the Jedi was rigidly standing with his arms crossed over his chest.

"You look like you have a plan."

Nejaa met his friend's eyes and nodded. "I'm working on one. I know that this isn't working." He gestured with his chin toward the human female crisis counselor. She was busily talking soothingly via an open comm channel with the credit changing booth droid. Every now and again a loud explosive response would come from the other end of the comm. "This is unusual behavior for Devaronians. They may like to connive and swindle, but they usually aren't violent. He's getting desperate, I can feel it. And that poor woman is beyond panic."

"He's getting to the point where he has nothing to loose. I agree." Ros again looked out over the wide street of the otherwise quiet business district through the windows of the tapcafe where the main group of CorSec was staking out the bank across the street. Other groups of officers were stationed on the roof of an adjoining building, while others were holding back the curious at either ends of the block.

Ten hours ago a call came into CorSec headquarters that a male Devaronian had taken a human woman hostage after he tried to rob the credit changing booth in the Este neighborhood of the Southside of Coronet. All such booths were manned by a droid programmed to never give in to demands from possible thieves. If the being requesting credits to be either deposited into their accounts, or withdrawing them didn't have the proper credentials, nothing would be done. To be intimidated by someone with a blaster held at its head wasn't even programmed into the machines.

However, he was crazy enough to think that the droid would give into his demands if he held it to another flesh-and-blood hostage. So, he grabbed the mother of four as she passed the bank on her way to her place of employment, and pulled her within the small confines of the building.

Nejaa looked over to the back of the dining room where a thin man in his mid-thirties stood with another crisis councilor. He looked drawn and defeated, and his presence shimmered with anguished pain and even guilt. Nejaa pulled his eyes from the woman's husband and turned back to Ros.

Quietly, he said, "I have to do something, Ros. I keep imagining me in that man's position and I don't like what it feels like."

"But what do you have planned?"

"You know me well enough by now."

Ros glanced back out the window. After a moment, he said, "Jenaves won't like it."

"Captain Jenaves requested my presence, so I can assume that he trusts my judgment on this. Otherwise, he wouldn't have called me in." Nejaa looked around and then his eyes fell upon the husband again. Quietly, he added, "I understand his wanting to be here, but he really isn't doing himself any good by it."

Before Ros could comment, Nejaa moved over to him. The councilor looked up at him and stopped her soothing speech. Nodding to the Jedi, she stepped away. The man brought his attention to Nejaa.

"You're a Jedi?"

Nejaa nodded and affirmed, "Yes, Mr. Powd."

"Are you gonna help Talla?" It was more plea than question.

Nejaa laid his hand on his shoulder and poured comfort into the Force as he said with a reassuring smile, "I am."

Powd gazed at Nejaa with a flicker of hope and trust in his eyes. "Please, bring her back to me. She's my life."

Nejaa understood all too well. "I will."

He turned to find Ros waiting for him. "Do I want to know how you are gonna get over there?"

Nejaa grinned. "Probably not."

"Need help?"

"I thought you didn't like it when I go off and do things my way."

"I don't." Ros then looked at the crisis councilor as she responded to another outburst from the abductor. "But you're right, we have to do something." Then he grinned and quipped, "I hate to admit this and I'll deny ever saying it, but your hair-brained schemes usually work."

Nejaa smiled back and responded evenly, "Let's hope they never stop working. Let's go. I'll fill you in as we go."

They headed toward the kitchen and the back exit when Ros laughed. "No, you won't. But after a year of this, I'm on to you."

Nejaa quirked his brow, but remained silent. Ros and he really did have a unique partnership, considering Ros was as Force-blind as a rock. As the Jedi reached out to the woman in the booth, he remembered the promise he made to her husband and thought about again what he'd feel if he was in his place.

He had returned to Corellia two months after leaving. As he had predicted, the Council had wanted him to take another Padawan, but worse, was the talk of sending him to the Outer Rim again. He had almost lost all hope of avoiding it when he received unexpected help from an even more unexpected source. The Director of CorSec contacted the Jedi Council and requested that they allow Nejaa Halcyon to return to Corellia to liaison with the security force, saying that he was impressed with Nejaa's insights concerning the recovery of the Alderaanian painting. Later, Nejaa discovered that with the encouragement from Ros, Yarlet Jenaves made the request of the director to ask for Nejaa's return to CorSec.

Within a week after Nejaa's return, he and Scerra were married secretly at sunset on a secluded section of Gold Beach, with the holy man, Ros and Adelyn as the only witnesses. Then with Adelyn's help, Nejaa and Scerra bought a house in a quiet neighborhood. However, to prevent any suspicion as to why a Jedi and a woman would be living together, Ros moved in as well. The two men took the upstairs rooms and created Ros his own apartment, while the Halcyons lived on the lower level. Most people assumed Ros had moved in with Scerra, while the Jedi only stayed there as a mutual friend and to help offset their considerable mortgage. The three of them never did anything to change that perception; in fact, they encouraged it by Scerra showing Ros affection in public. It bothered Nejaa to watch his wife openly hugging and the occasional chaste kiss, but he knew Scerra loved him and only felt friendship for Ros. Though, he suspected Ros felt more for Scerra; the cop never would act on it, of that he was certain. Ros was too honorable and respected Scerra's feelings for Nejaa too much.

They exited the back door of the tapcafe and Nejaa stopped to look around the dark ally between the buildings. Finally, he turned to Ros and said, "The building the booth is part of has an ally behind it."

"Yeah, but there's no doors or windows," Ros reminded him. CorSec rejected that entry option soon after beginning the stakeout. "Neither is there any back entry into the bank itself."

"True," Nejaa agreed, "but I can get us in."

Suddenly, a memory flashed from another case earlier that year, and Ros grinned. "Oh, right, your handy torch. I think we all should have one of those fancy light sticks."

Nejaa sniggered as he began down the ally. "That would be the day. No one in CorSec could handle one."

"You think so?" Ros challenged his friend as they exited the ally.

Nejaa looked over at the throng of beings being held back by the police line at the intersection of the main streets before answering, "I know so. You'd all be missing limbs within moments of getting one."

Ros pointed toward the other ally across the street. Nejaa nodded and they ran across the pavement. As they entered the other ally, Ros countered, "I don't know, I think I could handle it. Sure, the Force is important, I won't deny that, especially when you start batting blaster shots out of the air like my grandma used to bat leafhoppers from her prized lilies, but straight up sword play…I think I could do that." They came to the first juncture between the buildings, and Ros turned to head out to the main street behind the crowd at the intersection with Nejaa right beside him.

"You do?" Nejaa was amused at Ros's evaluation. Of course, he'd watched the Jedi practice enough in the basement of their house to think he knew something about lightsabers.

They stopped at the street, Ros pointed across the street. "There's no inlet to the ally behind that block, but we should be able to get to the roof of that shop."

"Yeah, that'll work."

As they headed toward the single story trinket shop, Ros answered Nejaa's challenge. "Yep, I do think I could take you on in a sparring match. At the Academy we had fencing classes with broad swords. You know the type the Mandos use. I was pretty good. Of course, you couldn't use the Force because that just wouldn't be fair. I'll tell you what. You find me a lightsaber and I'll show you."

Nejaa laughed as he assessed how they would get to the roof. Then he looked over his shoulder at his friend with a lopsided smirk. "Okay, but there's no way I'll let you anywhere near me with a lightsaber. But I do have some practice sabers that I used with my Padawan. Nothing can be removed I may wish to keep that way."

"So, you think I'll be good enough to get that close, huh?" Ros sniggered.

"Nope, but Scerra has some awfully big knives in that kitchen of hers. And she's been a little temperamental the past week or so."

Ros laughed and said, "Yeah, I'm glad you're around to take the brunt of her temper. She wouldn't like us making a mess of her basement with scorch marks, or littering it with body parts."

Finally, deciding that they could scale the structure by climbing onto the stoop railing and then onto the stoop roof, Nejaa began climbing. He looked back at Ros and winked as he corrected, "Our basement, but it's better if she thinks it's hers."

Within moments, they were in the ally behind the shop and making their way toward the back of the bank.

xxx

North Side Academy, Coronet City, Corellia

Scerra made her way into the staff lounge and headed toward the food preserver where she had placed her lunch. A group of other teachers were watching the HoloNet viewer as they sat at the table and ate their lunches in quiet companionship. The midday meal was a welcome break from the classroom. Although, as she carried her lunch bag toward the table, the smells of reheated food hit her and suddenly made her wish she hadn't even entered the room. The table was filled and several of her fellow teachers greeted her, but soon turned back to the midday news and their own meals.

She found an open space beside the teacher who took over her classroom when she was promoted to dean at the beginning of the session seven months ago.

As she sat down, the young woman announced, "That boyfriend of yours is in the news again." She punctuated her statement with an envious grin as she bit into a piece of fruit.

Scerra felt the instant spike of fear she felt anytime someone mentioned anything regarding a man being attached to her. She covered it quickly by opening the small insulated bag that contained her sandwich and raw vegetables. "Oh?"

The young teacher continued to grin as she finished chewing. After wiping her mouth with a flimsy napkin, she said, "Yeah, apparently he and that Jedi you know saved some woman from a kidnapper at a credit changer in Este."

Scerra brightened and opened her soft-drink. "Ahh…yeah, Ne…er, Ros was called out late last night about that." She silently chided herself for her near slip. Even after eight months of doing this, she still sometimes left things slip. She quickly said, "How did they finally catch him?"

"Oh, that Jedi…what's his name?...Anyway, that Jedi got into the bank and he and Officer Horn rescued the woman and arrested the man." Then she looked at Scerra and conspiratorially added, "You'll have to give us all the dirty details tomorrow, Dean."

Scerra gave her a wan smile and nodded, but her mind was already on something else—her suddenly churning stomach. She glanced back at the sandwich and knew she couldn't eat it.

"Hey, Dean Mallane, are you feeling okay? You don't…"

That was when it hit her again. She stood up so quickly her chair fell to the floor and she rushed to the nearest refresher, ignoring both the concerned questions of her colleagues and their puzzled looks.

After the last of the dry heaves ended, Scerra sat down on the 'fresher floor and leaned her head back against the wall. Closing her eyes, she took a couple deep breaths to settle her stomach. She had been feeling nauseated for the past week, off and on, particularly in the morning when she first got up, but today was the worst. She hadn't told Nejaa about it, but she knew he had suspected she wasn't well when she rushed to the refresher yesterday morning. She woke up sick and considered not coming into work today, but she had two interviews to conduct with perspective applicants for a teaching position that would be opening up and couldn't afford to reschedule them.

Slowly she stood up and leaned against the sink. She rinsed her mouth and was adjusting her wrinkled suit when a sudden thought came to her. She stared at herself for a moment in the mirror, wondering if it was possible. She left the refresher just as the bell rang indicating the end of the lunch period. She waited a few more minutes to ensure that the lounge would be empty, before going back in. The last thing she wanted to face was a room full of nosy subordinates who would love to have some bit of gossip on her. It was bad enough that they thought Ros was her live-in lover. The last thing she needed was to have them speculate on her sudden illness. Deciding that she definitely didn't want her lunch, she threw it away and headed back to her office.

After entering the sanctuary of the office she had occupied for the past academic session, she pulled her calendar and began a mental calculation. As she counted off days, the feeling that started out as an inking became a full fledged thought.

"…six, seven, eight, nine…" She dropped the datapad and stared off into space stunned. How could she have missed it? Then she remembered that she had been a few days late with her last injection due to a snafu at the clinic. The med-droid insisted that she'd be fine. Well, obviously I'm not! She thought and then whispered, "Oh, kriff…I'm pregnant."